Through the Darkness | Draco Malfoy

Sixteen

"Why does Malfoy looks like he's about to murder you any moment now?" Seamus whispered to Aries, as quiet as he can before Moody curses him.

Aries frowned and slowly shifted her eyes in the direction of Draco, who has been glaring at her ever since they stepped foot in class. She looked away quickly and shrugged. "He's probably plotting to assassinate me, not like he could do it."

"Well be careful about that. Some people shouldn't be pissed, they would kill you."

"I'm the one who shouldn't be pissed, remember that."

"So... do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by Wizarding law?" Moody asked.

Several hands rose into the air. Moody pointed at Ron. "Er," said Ron tentatively. "My dad told me about one... is it called the Imperius Curse or something?"

"Ah yes, your father would know that one. Gave the Ministry a lot of trouble at one time, the Imperius Curse."

Moody went back to his desk and took some jars out of his desk drawer.

Suddenly, a crumpled paper was thrown at Aries' head. She picked it up and read the words on:

Everyone is impatiently waiting for you to pull one of your stunts again, get detention with Moody. You'll love his company.
P.S. Your dad will be pleased too. Tell him I said hello, well if he isn't in Azkaban by now.

She turned to glare at her attacker only to see none other than Draco smirking at her from behind a book. She growled and threw the paper at his head.

"Aries Black!" Moody yelled. "That's ten points from Gryffindor!"

Her face dropped. Everyone chuckled at her, especially Draco.

"But Professor, it's not Aries' fault, its all Malfoy's doing— ah!" before Seamus could finish his sentence, Moody threw a piece of chalk at him.

"No talking in class unless you've got something constructive to say, Mr Finnigan!" he barked.

Seamus shrank down into his seat and muttered quietly under his breath while rubbing his head. Aries placed a hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

"Anyone else know one? another illegal curse?" Moody asked.

Hermione's hand flew into the air again and Neville's.

"Yes?" said Moody, his magical eye rolling right over to fix on Neville.

Neville looked kind of nervous. "There's one... the Cruciatus Curse." said Neville in a small but distinct voice.

"The Cruciatus Curse," said Moody. "Needs to be a bit bigger for you to get the idea," he said, pointing his wand at a spider. "Engorgio!" The spider swelled. It was now larger than a tarantula.

Abandoning all pretense, Ron pushed his chair backward, as far away from Moody's desk as possible.

"What's he doing?" asked Aries, her and Seamus were leaning forward on the table, trying to catch a glimpse of what Moody was doing.

Moody raised his wand again, pointed it at the spider and muttered. "Crucio!"

The spider's legs bent in upon its body, it rolled over and began to twitch horribly. Moody did not remove his wand, and the spider started to shudder and jerk more violently.

"Stop it!" Hermione said shrilly.

They weren't worried for the spider, but for Neville, his hands were clenched upon the desk in front of him, his knuckles white, his eyes wide and horrified.